If you’re trying to decide whether you should pick up the ukulele or the guitar, you can probably guess by the name of our website what we’re going to suggest. But, the reality is that all of us here at Uke Planet started on the guitar before picking up the ukulele. So our opinion might not be as biased as our domain makes us out to be.
We like to think that makes us pretty well suited to answer this question, as we’ve been on both sides.
That said, there is a clear winner when it comes to ease of playing between the ukulele and the guitar, and it’s not close. The guitar is a distant second place here.
Ukuleles are easier to learn to play than the guitar for several reasons. With four nylon strings instead of six steel strings, most common chords are easier to form and are less painful on the fingertips in the early stages with the ukulele. Additionally, the chords for the key of C are quick and easy to learn, which means learning to play a wide range of popular songs only takes a few days to weeks vs months on the guitar.
But let’s look at each of these in more detail, because if you are new to playing an instrument you might not realize how big of a deal each of those points are. Especially that key of C bit I mentioned above.
And, we’ll point out a few secondary aspects that we think make practicing the uke easier as well.
Four Strings are Better Than Six
Having four strings instead of six means that many chords on the ukulele will require fewer fingers to form them. In fact, two of the most commonly used chords in the key of C (which is one of the most commonly used keys in all of music) use just one finger to form the chord. Those are the chords C and Am. Additionally, the chord F, also in the key of C, only uses two fingers to form it. You can see those three in the chord chart below. If you’re new to chord charts, just know that the orange dots represent a finger, the verticle lines are strings and the horizontal lines are frets.
These three chords will show up over and over again in popular songs. Even better though, they really only take you about a day to get comfortable with and about a week to really have mastered.
Easy chords are awesome, but what do they actually translate to when it comes to actual songs? A lot actually.
With just those three chords you will be able to play a wide range of popular songs like Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars (link takes you to Ultimate-Guitar Tabs). One of the biggest hits of the last decade is literally at your fingertips (two fingertips to be exact).
If you can add one more chord, the G specifically, then you’ll literally be able to play thousands if not millions of songs. That is not an exaggeration. And the G only takes three fingers! Bonus! It looks like this.
And with that, you’re just two chords away from unlocking the key of C completely. So let’s jump in on that next!
What’s the Big Deal With the Key of C on the Ukulele?
With many string instruments, there will be at least one chord if not more in every key that is hard to get into the finger positions to play. Not so with the Uke.
The key of C, is incredibly easy to play on the Uke. Because of that fact, almost any popular song is “unlocked” to beginner ukulele players.
Let me explain why that bit “unlocks” so many songs.
First, though, if you’re not certain what a key is I’ll explain it briefly, not to turn this post into a music theory lecture.
A key is a grouping of seven notes or chords. There are many different keys, but all of them will have a mix of just seven notes or chords (only 6 chords from each key are commonly used).
Generally speaking, an entire song will be written in just one key. For example, a song written in the key of G will only have the chords found in the key of G. Some songs have key changes and they can throw in some variations of chords close by for effect, but for the most part, the key determines your basic chords of a song.
This is a big deal, because, for the key of C the six commonly used chords are really easy for beginners to learn. You’ve already seen four of them. Here are the other two common chords in the Key of C.
These two can be a bit more challenging than the others, but they are accessible after just a few days of practice and can be mastered after just a few weeks of consistent playing.
But why is this such a big deal?
If this still doesn’t seem like a game changer, it soon will!
If you’re new to keys, in music, you might not know that any song can be transposed (changed from one key to another). This means that any song you want to play, even if it has hard chords in it, can be transposed to the key of C to simplify it.
Weth other stringed instruments, transposing to easier keys will almost always leave you with a chord or two that is still a challenge to play for beginners. The key of C unlocks everything for beginners.
Sure, as you progress along you’ll want to learn the original key, but the easiest way to learn a rhythm instrument, and the most fun, is to play an entire song or library of songs.
It gives you the opportunity to practice different tempos, progressions (order of chords as they are played in a song), strumming patterns and more.
We highly recommend digging into transposing once you get your uke! We have a couple of resources on our site about transposing, but start with our post here. It walks you through being able to transpose in and out of the six most common keys without needing music theory. We’ll equip you with the info needed to be able to transpose somewhere in the ballpark of 15 million popular songs.
But, don’t let transposing scare you away, you don’t have to transpose to play the uke. Many songs for the uke are already transposed for easy playing online, or they can be transposed with a click of a button on most tab sites you’ll visit.
And don’t forget, you always have the option not to transpose a song at all, and play it in the original key. It’s still likely to be easier than playing it on the guitar.
Nylon Strings are Easier on Fingertips
One of the major barriers to entry for the guitar has to do with many having steel strings. Steel strings just simply hurt beginners’ fingertips after the first day of practice. Blisters almost always form after just a couple of days. Until several weeks in, after calluses form, the guitar is pretty painful for most folks.
I’ve heard many people share over the years that they tried picking up the guitar but always fell out of the habit of practicing once their fingertips got too raw to keep playing. It can be a momentum buster for a lot of beginners.
With the ukulele, many people share that the tenderness during the early days is not as bad. Most can pretty easily play through the level of pain that comes before calluses form.
The pain is still there, but at a much lower level. Which likely comes down to two reasons. Nylon strings are softer than steel strings and they are not wound as tight for tuning so less pressure is needed to produce a clean sound. Both of which factor into being able to play through the pain.
Entry Level Ukuleles can be Cheaper Than Guitars
This one is a bit of a stretch when it comes to the argument of learning to play, but I lump it in because you have to have an instrument if you’re going to learn to play it. For the ukulele, you can get in and be in the game for a long time with just a $60 investment.
I started on the Makala Dolphin (mine is pictured above), which made the jump into ukes a fairly small risk for me. After all, nobody wants to spend a few hundred dollars on something they might not enjoy playing.
I did not regret starting with the Makala one bit. It was perfect for me as a beginner. It is on the small side for my fingers, but it suited my needs for a very long time. It has a nice sound, stays in tune, and well we actually have an entire post on our recommended entry-level ukuleles over here. Grant does a great job breaking things down over there. It’s not a dizzying amount of choices that leaves you with more questions than when you came in. We’ve tried many entry-level ukes and have helped many buy their first. We’ve narrowed it down to make your choice an easy one. No fluff, just two price points, and two suggestions.
Ukuleles are Smaller and Quieter
With ukuleles being much smaller than a guitar, they are far more accessible to play. This means you can easily practice anywhere, and it is not cumbersome to store away and pull out. You can probably put it anywhere you put your cell phone. 🙂
Additionally, with ukuleles being much softer in volume, they are far less likely to annoy (too real?) your family or roommates. I find myself picking up the uke and playing it while I’m playing a game with the family or even while we’re all watching a movie. It can be played quiet enough so as not to drown out anything else in the room.
It might seem like a “small” thing to make this size and volume distinction, but there is something freeing about how easy it is to pick up and play. I play the uke way more often than I ever played the guitar.
The ukulele is just easier to start playing and therefore advancing to real songs, which means you’ll likely enjoy it more as a beginner. And that is key for learning a new instrument. Humans learn faster when we are excited about what we’re doing.